Past
Grantees

A two-year grant of $64,000 was awarded to NAUTILUS MUSIC-THEATER, St. Paul, Minnesota, in support of the participation of emerging composers and librettists in the Composer-Librettist Studio and Rough Cuts. Nautilus supports the creation, development and production of new operas and music-theater works, and the professional development of artists. Rough Cuts is the informal monthly presentation of works-in-progress that provoke dialogues between artists and audiences and enable creative artists to explore the creative process. The Composer-Librettist Studio is a two-week intensive workshop focusing on the process of collaboration between composers and librettists through a series of exploratory assignments that deal with the challenges of writing for the music-theater form. Five writers and five composers participate each year.

Directors authorized a $12,000 concluding grant to the NETA DANCE COMPANY, New York City, in support of the creation and production of new work by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher. This multicultural dance company brings contemporary performance arts to the public, promotes artistic collaboration between artists working in different media, and supports innovation in all media. Jerome funding will support the new, evening-length work Paper Boats, which follows the shifting tides of love and intimacy. Pulvermacher plans to deconstruct the body language of intimacy and bring to light the deepest, most hidden and vulnerable territories of love and intimacy.

NEW DRAMATISTS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $80,000 in support of its annual Composer/Librettist Studio and the new works process. The mission of New Dramatists is to find gifted playwrights and give them the time, space, and tools to develop their craft, so that they may fulfill their potential and make lasting contributions to the theater. The new works process is actually a constellation of programs and services radiating from the core program of playwright-driven readings and workshops. The Composer/Librettist Studio is mounted in partnership with Nautilus Music-Theater. It serves emerging composers and New Dramatist playwrights, who work through a series of exploratory collaborations and assignments to develop their skills in opera and music theater.

A two-year grant of $30,000 was awarded to NEW GEORGES, New York City, in support of the development of new plays in The Room, a workspace used for readings, small-scale workshop presentations, rehearsals and artist/community gatherings. Funds will support the development of Given Fish by Melissa James Gibson; Anna Bella Eema by Lisa DAmour; Belly, three shorts by Alva Rogers; and Beauty and the Wild Boar by Sonya Sobieski.

The NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Media Lounge. The New Museums purpose is to engage diverse audiences with contemporary art. The Media Lounge is a dedicated space for the presentation and interpretation of digital art, experimental video, and other forms of new media. Visitors are given opportunities to encounter and engage with innovative forms of artistic expression using new media. The Lounge was launched in late 2000 to investigate the long-term effects of digital media on contemporary visual culture. Over the next two years, the Museum will present six exhibitions and seven public interpretive programs.

NEW YORK CITY PLAYERS, New York City, received a grant of $10,000 in support of the production of a new work in its 2002 season. New York City Players is dedicated to bringing innovation in theater and performance to the public through productions written and directed by Artistic Director Richard Maxwell. Funding will be used for Maxwells new play, Joe, the story of one man told through six actors, portraying him at different stages of his life. Joe will premiere this fall in New York City.

NEW YORK MILLS ARTS RETREAT AND REGIONAL CULTURAL CENTER, New York Mills, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $32,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Artist in Residence Program. The Center is dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans. It is a space where artists of all disciplines may concentrate on making work while sharing their creative energies with a rural community. Funding will be used to support two- to four-week residencies for 12 to 14 emerging artists. Resident artists receive stipends, living quarters, and unlimited access to the Centers facilities.

NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP, New York City, was awarded a two-year grant of $35,000 in support of theater artist development programs in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. Jerome funding will support the Mondays @ 3 play reading series, summer residencies at Vassar and Dartmouth Colleges, fellowships for talented minority theater artists, and the Just Add Water festival of works-in-progress. The organizations mission is to uncover the vital, fresh voice of developing theater artists and to produce challenging and unpredictable new theater.

Visual artist JILA NIKPAY will spend five weeks in Iran to gain firsthand exposure to Iranian contemporary art and gather raw material for a new body of work focusing on how dislocation and identity work on both personal and collective levels. She will create photographs and text, documenting her interaction with Iranian culture. Shell use these as a basis for fictional narratives describing the fragile relationship of the figure to the landscape.

The NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the Artist Project Grant Program. The Centers mission is the advancement of the ceramic arts. Ongoing programs include classes and workshops, exhibitions, studio space and grants for artists, a sales gallery and a variety of special initiatives. Since 1990, the Jerome Foundation has provided support to the Center for a program in which emerging ceramic artists receive grants of $6,500 to subsidize various initiatives including experimenting with new techniques and materials, working or studying with a mentor, bringing a respected figure to Minnesota to critique work, purchasing equipment to facilitate an aesthetic or technical investigation, buying time to work in the studio, renting a studio, supplies, technical support, collaborations with other artists, exhibition opportunities and travel. At the end of each year, grant recipients present the outcomes of their projects in a group exhibition at the Center.

Folklorist PHILIP NUSBAUM will spend one week in Kentucky attending seminars at the World of Bluegrass tradeshow. He will investigate the current bluegrass music scene and learn about national syndication possibilities for his Twin Cities radio show, Bluegrass Saturday Morning, on KBEM. Nusbaum has been involved in bluegrass music as a fan, scholar, player, and radio producer for more than 35 years.

JOHN OBRIEN, Lake Elmo, MN, received support for The Rise and Fall of it All, a new media work that uses the complementary aspects of music, sound, narrative and imagery to explore the challenges faced by various people who inhabit the margins of society.

Writer W. SCOTT OLSEN, Moorhead, will spend one day traveling by car from Badwater, California, to Mt. Evans, Colorado. Findings from the road trip will become the lead essay in Olsens new collection, which focuses on the limits and potentials of a single day and what constitutes a days travel across the face of the Earth. Olsen has planned a 900-mile trip from Badwater, which has the lowest elevation roadway in the US, to Mt. Evans, which is home to the countrys highest roadway. This road trip offers many different ways of looking at the land as it moves through deserts and mountains.

Jerome Directors approved a grant of $12,000 for ST. LUKES CHAMBER ENSEMBLE, New York City, in support of the participation of emerging composers in the Second Helpings series. Started in 1993, the series presents repeat performances of recently written works and premieres of new compositions. It addresses the difficulties surrounding the presentation and acceptance of new music, and provides a second hearing to allow audiences, composers, and musicians to become familiar with the language, tone, and temperament of a new musical voice. This years commissioned composers are Alla Borzova, Steven Burke, and Daniel Bernard Roumain.

The ST. LUKES CHAMBER ENSEMBLE, New York City, received a two-year grant of $24,000 in support of three commissions to emerging choreographers as part of its Second Helpings Series. Through artistic collaborations, alternative forms of presentation, and educational outreach, St. Lukes is a chamber orchestra that explores a wide range of repertoire. The Second Helping Series is the performance showcase for St. Lukes commissioned works and for its contemporary chamber music presentations. The Series presents repeat performances of recently written works and premiere performances of new works, many commissioned by St. Lukes. The three composers to receive Jerome commissions are Jane Ira Bloom, Pamela Z, and Daniel Bernard Roumain, who is the newly appointed Assistant Composer-in-Residence at St. Lukes.

TATIANA ORMAZA, administrator and poet, will travel to San Luis Obispo, California, for ten days to visit instructors, students, and administrators in the creative writing program at the California Men's Colony of the San Luis Obispo State Prison. Ormaza intends to gain insight into the program's development and operation with the intention of implementing a similar program in Minnesota correctional facilities. Ormaza will meet with Grady Hillman, who oversees training for a new federal initiative, Arts Programs for Young Offenders in Detention and Corrections, for mentorship.

Jerome Directors awarded a $20,000 grant to PATRICKS CABARET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the participation of emerging, creative artists in its core programming. The Cabaret supports artists in their growth and development and encourages artists of all experience levels to try new things and take risks. Core programming takes place on the second and third weekends of each month. Each evening includes six or seven works in progress, with a mix of artistic experience levels and arts disciplines. The audience is primed to expect the unexpected. Jerome support enables the Cabaret to pay fees to artists as they test new work.

A two-year grant of $85,000 was authorized for PERFORMANCE SPACE 122, New York City, in support of commissions for emerging creative artists. P.S. 122 is a multidisciplinary art center serving the New York City dance and performance community. Jerome Foundation has provided support to P.S. 122 since 1986 to underwrite a comprehensive commissioning program supplemented with rehearsal and workshop space, technical and administrative support, and performance opportunities. Each season, 15 to 20 artists are provided commissions ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, in addition to performance fees.

PILLSBURY UNITED COMMUNITIES, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $8,000 in support of the development and production of works by emerging playwrights during the 2002 season of Pillsbury House Theatre. The Theaters mission is to create challenging theater to inspire choice, change and connection. Grant funds supported the development and production of Mama Mosaic's original script The B.I. Show, a multimedia performance piece that examines the multi-layered personality of identity (and society's tendency to polarize it) through storytelling, movement and poetry. Grant funds will also be used for readings of new scripts by emerging Minnesota and New York City playwrights, including Quiet as its Kept by Sonja Parks.

THE PLAYWRIGHTS CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $21,000 in support of the Many Voices Program. The Centers mission is to fuel theater by providing services that support playwrights and playwriting. It is committed to nurturing artistic excellence in new visions of theater, fostering playwright initiative and leadership, practicing cultural pluralism, discovering emerging artists, advocating for playwrights and their work, connecting playwrights with audiences, and developing a community for new work. The Many Voices Program provides to emerging playwrights of color stipends, play development support, the mentorship of experienced playwrights, participation in roundtable discussions, and opportunities to take professional classes at the Center. An independent selection panel of theater professionals selects eight Many Voices playwrights per year to participate in the Program.